A Lesson in Dance
by moyabomb
Summary: A follow-up one-shot to my other fic, "The Bodyguard". Mitsuru must learn a dance routine to perform during her birthday. With help from her bodyguard, she learns more than just how to waltz. Does contain very mild language.


Another failed talk. Another disappointing car ride home. Mitsuru had once again gone back and forth with the Board of Directors, trying to get them to understand that the end of the Dark Hour did not guarantee the end of all Shadows. Just as before, they dismissed her claims despite all the evidence she showed them, and when she continued to argue with them, they all scoffed at her, telling her she was trying too hard to keep herself relevant to the Kirijo Group apart from being the head of her family.

"Guess we have to wait until a Shadow attacks them for them to finally start believing you."

Mitsuru turned her gaze from the limousine's window to her bodyguard seated on her right. Ryuichi had spoken softly, but his voice had gone gritty with irritation.

"I would prefer not to take it to that extreme, though it does seem like the only way to convince them," she replied, grasping her arm in frustration.

"I don't want it to come to that, either, but just to be safe, you might want to make that clear to a certain maid of yours."

"She knows. Though, a reminder couldn't hurt."

They soon arrived at the Kirijo mansion, where they were greeted by two rows of maids in the foyer. Mitsuru's personal maid, Kikuno, stepped forward.

"Ojou-sama, your mother wishes to have a word with you in the music room," she said to her.

Mitsuru raised her eyebrows. "My mother? Is she all right?"

"She's fine. She simply wishes to speak with you."

She let out a relieved sigh. "Ryuichi, I'll be a bit late for our study session," she said to him over her shoulder. "Go ahead and get started without me."

"Sure thing, Boss," he replied. He started up the stairs, followed closely by a pink-haired maid.

With a purposeful stride, Mitsuru headed to the music room. The fireplace had been lit, giving the room a cheery warmth to counter the cool, spring weather. Her mother, Hanae, was seated at the couch there, having tea.

"Welcome home, Mitsuru," Hanae greeted her daughter in her light, airy voice. Her smile faded when she saw Mitsuru's stony expression. "Oh. I take it the talks did not go well again?"

With a single sweep of her hand, Mitsuru tossed her long, wavy red hair back over her shoulder as she joined her mother at the table.

"I don't understand why they refuse to accept that we haven't completely eradicated Shadows," she grumbled. A maid poured her some tea before offering her the plate of ladyfingers. Mitsuru waved the plate away.

"Sheer stubbornness, I imagine." Her mother set down her teacup to take a ladyfinger. "I have no doubts that it's because they still haven't forgiven you for everything that happened last year. Though, they really should thank you. It was your brash decision that saved the Kirijo Group, after all."

"They only see it as a fluke," she muttered darkly under her breath. "And because of that one brash decision, they still deem me incapable of making sound decisions despite all the data and research I've presented to them."

Mitsuru blew a frustrated sigh out through her nostrils. "But enough of that; I was told that you wished to speak with me. What did you want to talk about?"

She waited patiently for an answer while her mother took a small bite of her ladyfinger. The maid once again invited Mitsuru to have some tea, but she declined as her mother set her pastry down in exchange for her teacup.

"Yes, about that," Hanae began. "As you know, your birthday is coming up very soon, and preparations for a ball are already underway."

Mitsuru stifled a wince. "Yes, I am aware of that, Mother."

Hanae paused to sip some tea. "Good. Now, regarding your birthday celebration, I believe it is only proper for the host to give a presentation for the guests."

"A presentation?" Mitsuru narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Merely a bit of entertainment to start off the ball. I thought it would help set the mood if you perform a dance."

"A dance!"

Her chair groaned as Mitsuru popped to her feet. "Mother, I am already busy enough as is. I have no time to spare just to dance for a few guests," she protested, ready to walk out.

"No less than two hundred guests have confirmed their attendance, so it's not just a few."

"That is hardly the point."

The maid pushed in Mitsuru's chair to catch her as she sank back down into her seat. "My apologies, Mother," she murmured, regretting her curt response just then. "But as I said before, I have no time to dedicate to learning a dance. Furthermore, dancing has never been my forte, and there is hardly enough time for me to perfect a routine."

"I have faith in you. And you won't be dancing alone. I've already designated a partner for you."

Mitsuru frowned. Her mother smiled as though she had just given her daughter a precious gift.

"How long have you been planning this?" Mitsuru asked.

Hanae's smile grew warmer. "I believe since late last year."

Groaning, Mitsuru shook her head. "You're enjoying yourself too much, Mother."

"Is that so wrong? I won't be the only one to enjoy it; I'm sure you will, too."

"I find little to enjoy from this whole ordeal." Mitsuru crossed her arms in front of her. "And furthermore, if the implied partner you spoke of is indeed who I think it is, then wouldn't that be detrimental for us, considering the circumstances?"

Hanae's smile burned even brighter. "I see no harm. They're searching for a bodyguard, but if we introduce him as your butler, they won't realize he's the same person."

Somehow, Mitsuru had a feeling that her mother was right, but still saw no reason to risk inciting a lynch mob during the party.

"Why is this so important to you?" Mitsuru finally asked with a sigh.

"Because I think you could use some fun."

Her answer made Mitsuru's irritation flare up again. "If this is a joke, then I fail to see the humor in all of this," she said coldly, standing up once more. "We would be putting ourselves in danger, and all for the sake of 'fun'. I'm sorry, Mother, but I cannot spare countless hours of preparation just for a dance that could potentially harm us in the end."

She walked away, already thinking about all the time she wasted just discussing the matter.

Hanae lowered her teacup from her lips. "That's a shame," she said quietly without her smile diminishing. "I just thought you might want to have a little fun with our family."

Mitsuru stopped just inside the door. "Your idea of fun puts us at risk. You know what they'll do if they find out who he is."

"I fail to see the problem. As far as I know, our relatives never knew and still don't know what he looks like, so they don't know who they're looking for. All they know is that they despise him."

"They will suspect something. They're not complete fools."

"They won't look twice at a butler."

Hanae sipped more tea. "Considering that you've already paraded him in front of some of our relatives with no trouble, I'm surprised that you're so against this. He's served them tea before, and they were none the wiser."

Her tone just then was a little too gleeful. "Mother," Mitsuru said, turning just enough to glance back at her over her shoulder, "the reason why you're so insistent about all this—Does it have anything to do with their treatment of me last year?"

Her empty teacup clinked softly on its saucer as she passed it to her maid. "I'm ashamed to say it does," she said softly, and Mitsuru could hear the weight of sorrow in her voice. "I wasn't able to speak up in your defense when they spoke harshly to you, even though you were already in so much pain. Your father would have never allowed it if he knew the things they said to you."

Mitsuru recalled her family's vicious words, none of them holding back despite everything she was already going through during those despairing months. Had it not been for her loyal friends supporting her, she might not have survived as well as she did, if at all.

But now, to learn that her mother felt so much guilt for not being able to protect her made her realize how oblivious she had been to her mother's pain. She never blamed her mother for not being able to defend her, considering she was too poor in health to be able to combat their relatives. She was already faced with her own anguish at the time, and to expect more from her would only be too cruel.

In place of her mother, her bodyguard had been the one to stand up for her. It was his flagrant actions that put him on the Kirijo family's blacklist for almost bringing about the downfall of the Kirijo Group, which was thankfully avoided in the end. He also drew the ire of the Board of Directors, but thanks to the intervention of Mitsuru and a network of her supporters, they miraculously have not exposed his identity to her relatives, nor her affiliates.

Just remembering everything the Kirijo Group and her family put her through was enough to make her clench her fists, but to see a glimpse of the pain they caused her mother was almost unforgivable. It was enough to make her consider going through with her mother's plan.

"Perhaps it's okay to have a little fun for Father's sake," she decided.

Her mother pouted. "Only for your father?"

Cracking a tiny smirk, Mitsuru turned back around to face her. "And for you, as well," she told Hanae. "After all that they did to you, too, it's the least we can do."

Her mother held up a hand. "It was never my intention for you to do this for my sake," she said to her daughter. "I merely wanted you to do it for your own enjoyment."

"And I'm sure it will be enjoyable, Mother." Mitsuru met her mother's eyes with a smile. "Especially if we're fortunate enough that the Board won't mention anything about my partner after the ball."

"I believe we have already made it clear to them what the repercussions could be, should they reveal him," her mother replied, and something about her words comforted Mitsuru. "After all, they should know that we are all indebted to the both of you for saving the Kirijo Group.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Mitsuru," Hanae advised her daughter. "Just be sure to enjoy yourself. This is supposed to be a fun event, especially since it's your birthday."

Mitsuru was about to wholly agree until a realization deflated her excitement. "I suppose this will only be fun if I can perform the dance perfectly," she noted glumly.

"Then you should start right away." Hanae accepted her refilled teacup from the maid. "I've already arranged for a lesson in the ballroom."

"What? Already?"

She waved her daughter away. "Go on, Mitsuru. You mustn't keep your partner waiting."

On her way to the ballroom, Mitsuru found herself growing fonder of her mother's scheme. It was a foolish thing they were doing, she knew, but as it had already been a few months since all the drama took place, she took comfort in the idea that her relatives might have already given up their search, or at least forgot most of the details of last winter's events. She could only hope that no one would suspect a thing.

A pair of butlers opened the double doors to the ballroom when Mitsuru arrived. The ballroom had staircases on either side of the entrance that led up to the second floor, where guests could peer down at the floor below from the balconies. A large, open space up there could house a full orchestra, and the music could carry throughout the entire ballroom and even to parts of the mansion. There were more doors on the second floor leading into the Kirijo home, and would mostly likely be where Mitsuru would make her grand entrance for the party.

The first floor had tiles that looked to have come from an ancient European castle, giving them an historical and regal appearance especially with golden grout that never seemed to lose its luster. Stone pillars held up the balconies, spanning along the sides of the ballroom. Tall, glass doors opposite the entrance led out to the garden, where guests could cool off by the fountain between dances.

When Mitsuru stepped into the ballroom, she found Ryuichi already getting a head start on his dance lesson with three maids correcting his posture. Kikuno stood by a little table with a small stereo sitting on top, smiling as she called out reminders to keep his head up. The pink-haired maid named Harumi used a thin cane to rap on Ryuichi's legs and back to snap him into proper position. She seemed to be enjoying herself a little too much.

The third maid was the one who was to be their dance instructor. Miho was middle-aged but sprightly, and she guided Ryuichi to hold his shoulders back for a waltz.

Upon hearing Mitsuru's high heels clicking on the tile floors, the four looked up and turned to her.

"Ojou-sama, we have been expecting you," Miho said with a bow. The other two maids followed suit.

Her bodyguard stood there, scratching his head. "Um, so, I heard we're dancing for your birthday party ball thing?" he asked.

"That is correct," Mitsuru said as she approached the group. "It's my mother's idea."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you actually agreed to it?"

Her tiny smirk returned. "Let's just say we're doing it for 'fun'."

For the first few minutes, Miho taught the pair some basic steps for the waltz, having them step in a box shape next to each other. Mitsuru had already learned the basics years ago, but still clomped around on heavy feet. Next to her, Ryuichi was light on his toes and picked up the steps quickly. He seemed to be enjoying the lesson.

"Ojou-sama, try stepping a little lighter."

"Keep your heads up. Good."

"Ojou-sama, please try to loosen up a bit."

Most of the corrections were directed at Mitsuru. Meanwhile, Ryuichi thrived, able to imitate their instructor's moves and make corrections with ease.

"All right. Let's have you two dance together now," Miho announced after a few minutes of practice.

Mitsuru stood facing Ryuichi. Miho instructed Ryuichi to take Mitsuru's right hand in his left, and then to put his right hand on her back. Mitsuru's left hand went to his shoulder.

"Stand closer together, if you please."

Without warning, Ryuichi pulled Mitsuru to him so she was pressed up against him. She flushed pink and almost shoved him away as a reflex.

"Very good," Miho said.

Ryuichi stepped away. "Wait, what? We actually have to be that close?"

"That's correct."

"Really? I was just messing around."

Mitsuru held their joined hands up. "Let's continue," she said curtly, and the two resumed their new starting position.

A waltz began to play from the small stereo. Miho counted the pair off, giving them three counts. Back at count one again, the two stepped forward, bumping into each other. Mitsuru gasped as Ryuichi went rigid, and he held her upright so she wouldn't fall.

"Sorry," he quickly said, flicking his silvery-gray bangs out of his eyes. "You okay?"

Wincing, Mitsuru steadied herself on her feet. "I'm fine," she murmured.

"Ah, Ojou-sama," Miho said, "I'm sorry I forgot to mention this: In ballroom dancing, the man leads, so please follow his steps."

Ryuichi put on a playful frown. "But, I'm used to following her," he joked, making the other two maids snicker. "Okay, okay, I'll lead."

Mitsuru silently berated herself for forgetting such a basic detail. They took a few minutes to practice without music, allowing Mitsuru to get used to mirroring the steps of the lead without her partner first. When she was ready, she tried them together with Ryuichi.

"Shoulders back."

"Try to relax."

"Head up."

"Lighter steps."

Mitsuru gradually grew more frustrated with her struggles. Each time she fixed one problem, two more popped up. She stepped on Ryuichi's foot on several occasions and apologized profusely every time. Ryuichi would just smile and tell her it didn't hurt, but Mitsuru still felt terrible for her jarring mistakes.

"Um, we've been going at it for about an hour now," Ryuichi said to Mitsuru during a brief break. "We can stop here if you'd like. I'm sure you have more important things to do."

Mitsuru dabbed a towel at the perspiration on her throat. "Nonsense. We still have a lot of work to do if we want this to be perfect for the ball," she replied, and had them get back into their starting positions shortly after.

Sometime later, Miho started teaching them the routine she prepared for them. They practiced for two more hours, and Mitsuru felt like she was only getting worse. Her mind became hyper fixated on her partner's feet, anticipating where they might be so she could step without fear. She was so focused on his steps that she forgot about everything else, including her own.

She tripped. Panicked, Mitsuru stomped her foot to keep herself from falling.

"YARGH!"

Gasping, Mitsuru looked down. She had stabbed her stiletto heel down onto Ryuichi's foot, leaving a small dent in his leather shoe.

She let him go. "I-I'm sorry!" she uttered as the maids hurried forward with a chair. She watched in numbed shock as they removed his shoe and sock to examine his foot. There was a small bruise already forming in a spot below his toes, but thankfully no blood.

"I don't think it's broken, but you should probably have a doctor look at it," Kikuno advised.

"It's really not that bad." Ryuichi looked up to Mitsuru and smiled. "It's just a little bruised. We can still practice."

Mitsuru shook her head. "It's no good. You should let it recover fully first."

"It's fine. We only have a little over a week before your birthday ball."

"That's all right. We'll manage."

They ended practice there. Mitsuru apologized once again to Ryuichi, thanked the maids, and then returned to her room to shower and rest.

She couldn't relax. She tried distracting herself with her studies, but her mind would always wander back to dancing. Failing at something she should already know the basics of frustrated her, to where she could feel her muscles getting taut with the need to get up and try again until she got it right.

Mitsuru ate dinner alone in the dining room that evening. Maids brought Ryuichi's meal to his room so he wouldn't aggravate his injury. Despite Hanae's chipper mood earlier, it seemed that she had exerted herself too much in her excitement and was also confined to her room to rest. With no one to join her for dinner, Mitsuru's quiet meal gave her plenty of time to dwell more on dancing, where she even started doing the steps beneath the table while she ate.

After dinner, she went straight to the ballroom to practice alone. The stereo was still there, and she set it to play the waltz on repeat. She held her hands up as though to dance with a partner, and began doing the steps they learned earlier.

"Head up," she reminded herself, now that Ryuichi's feet weren't there to distract her. "Lighter steps."

Her heels continued to dig into the freshly polished tiles. Every now and then, she slouched when she peered down at her feet, trying to figure out how to rotate on the ground without her heels digging in and stopping the turns. When she tried balancing on the front of her foot, her heel dropped, digging into the floor. She cried out as she fell.

Someone caught her. Blinking, Mitsuru felt strong arms hold her up off the floor.

"Ryuichi?"

He winced as he peered down at her. "Maybe it's the shoes that's messing you up?" he suggested, and helped her back onto her feet.

She smoothed out her clothes. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "And what about your injury?"

He stood before her with no visible trouble with his foot. "Told you it really wasn't anything to worry about," he said with a shrug. "But here: the maids asked me to give you these."

He picked up a dented shoebox from the floor. Inside was a new pair of high heels with suede soles that allowed the wearer to glide without slipping. It seemed that he dropped them earlier in order to catch her.

Mitsuru took the box of shoes and sighed. "Thank you," she murmured, and took a seat in the chair to put them on.

"So, why are you so gung-ho about this dance thing?" Ryuichi asked while she changed shoes. "And, is it really okay for me to be part of it? I thought your family was still looking for me with torches and pitchforks."

"It should be fine, seeing as they haven't recognized you yet," she answered, sounding more confident than she felt. "As for the dance, it's going to be performed in front of at least two hundred people, including the Kirijo Group's affiliates and their families. We cannot afford to take this performance lightly."

"T-Two hundred people!" He took a second to compose himself. "Well, I guess that explains it. But, why was this decided only now?"

"I'm not sure, considering that Mother has had the idea for a few months now. In any case, it's supposed to be for fun."

"Fun for who?"

"For us and for her, too. Mother wants our performance to be a little jab at everyone."

Ryuichi seemed amused. "Her own little way of saying 'Take that!' for last year, isn't it?" he asked with approval. "She's a lot more devious than I thought she'd be. You must be proud of her."

"To some extent."

Mitsuru set aside the shoebox with her old shoes inside. Standing, she tested her new heels out, feeling lighter on the balls of her feet and able to glide more easily across the floor. "Now, with that said, we have to make sure that our performance is flawless," Mitsuru said to him. "My relatives will also be in attendance, so we have to show them that we are thriving in spite of everything that happened last year."

She dropped her voice low. "And hopefully, they won't notice who you are," she muttered afterward.

"I can always put on a disguise," he suggested. "No promises, but gimme a few days and I should have a decent mustache. And I can cover this up with a little makeup—"

"Let's just focus on perfecting our dance for now," Mitsuru said just as the song looped back to the beginning.

At that, Ryuichi offered her his hand. "Then in that case, may I have this dance?"

Mitsuru stared at his injured foot, still skeptical about his quick recovery.

"If it looks like it's bothering me, we can stop," he insisted.

Reluctantly, she took his hand. Ryuichi put his other hand on her waist. "I'll count us off," he said, nodding with the beat of the music. "One, two, three..."

They pushed off together. As expected, Ryuichi glided across the floor with ease, showing no signs of an injury. Mitsuru moved much more smoothly with her new shoes, but she kept fighting the urge to look down, hunch over, and avoid skewering Ryuichi's feet with her stilettos.

Two hundred guests. The words in her head kept in time with the beat. Two hundred guests. Maybe even more. Mitsuru was determined to perform well, to move with grace so she could float and glide with her partner. The more she thought about it, the more tense she became.

"You're thinking too much."

Mitsuru halted her spin, stopping them. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

Ryuichi studied her with knitted eyebrows. "I think you're thinking way too hard about dancing," he told her. "Dancing is more of something you feel rather than think about, so just have fun with it."

"In ballroom dancing, we have rules to follow," she argued. "Head up. Shoulders back. Precise steps. It's not as carefree as it looks."

"Well, forget about all that for now." He took her by the hand again. "Just forget about posture and focus on how the music feels."

Letting out another frustrated sigh, Mitsuru resumed their starting positions. She listened to Ryuichi count off, then pushed off with him once more.

Despite having heard the song for hours that day, Mitsuru finally listened to it for the first time. She focused on the lively tune, noticing the playfulness of the strings and the slight gallop of the beat. When she peered into Ryuichi's smiling face, she felt herself begin to relax.

They glided across the floor, swirling and spinning. Mitsuru wasn't as aware of her feet nor Ryuichi's, but they stumbled only twice thus far.

"Do you remember the last time we had to dance like this?" he asked as they whirled around the ballroom.

Mitsuru gave it some thought. "It's been a while, hasn't it? It's no wonder I hardly remember the basics."

"It hasn't been _that_ long since our first year of middle school!" Ryuichi laughed. "But yeah, not a lot of our classmates were looking forward to P. E. because of the dance unit. Remember the first day, how we ended up as partners?"

Mitsuru stared through him and into the past. "We chose each other, didn't we?"

"Aw, you're being too nice. You can say it."

She let out yet another frustrated sigh. "No one wanted to partner with either of us," she muttered bitterly.

Ryuichi made a face. "Eh, close enough. More like, no one wanted to dance with a short loser like me, and all the guys were too intimidated to dance with you."

"Save for one."

"Yup. Remember him?"

Mitsuru grimaced from just remembering the boy. "How could I forget? I recall everyone pairing up quickly, and you were the only one I saw at the time who was left without a partner," she said, watching the scene unfold in her mind. "We spotted each other through our classmates, and as you made your way to me, that boy came and pushed you down so he could partner with me instead."

"Good times." Ryuichi shook his head to get his silvery-gray bangs out of his eye, giving her a glimpse of the ragged scar over his right brow. "And what happened next?"

Mitsuru managed a wry smile. "I turned him down."

"Yeah, you did!" Ryuichi was grinning now. "And you said some pretty badass stuff back then, too."

"Did I? What did I say?"

"If memory serves me right, you said something like: 'I refuse to have someone so boorish as my partner. I would prefer to dance with a gentleman'."

As he said this, Mitsuru watched her memory play out in her mind. There she was, having just wrenched her hand out of the rude boy's grasp, berating him as she went over to help a much shorter Ryuichi up off the gym floor. She could clearly see little Ryuichi's awestruck and fearful face as she offered him her hand.

Ryuichi stepped on her foot. Mitsuru cried out, falling backwards. He jerked her arm upwards, but they were already falling. As they fell together, Ryuichi twisted them around, hitting the ground first. Mitsuru landed on top of him.

"My bad," he grunted. "You okay?"

Mitsuru pushed herself off of him. "Yeah," she murmured. "You?"

"Peachy."

Mitsuru chuckled as they both sat up.

"What's so funny?"

"This exact same thing happened back then, too. Do you remember?"

She watched as Ryuichi's face scrunched up in thought. "It did?"

"Yes, it did." Mitsuru sat on her knees. "Even back then, you managed to protect me from falling, and that was long before you were trained to be my bodyguard."

He shyly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, your fans would've hunted me down if anything happened to you. Maybe that's why the other guys were too scared to be your partner."

"I doubt that."

Mitsuru leaned back to stare up at the high ceiling, admiring the bright, crystal chandelier hanging overhead. Any second now, the watchful maids and butlers could rush over to pick her up off the floor, but she didn't care. She was pleasantly lost in her memories for the moment.

"You probably didn't know this back then, but my pride was a little hurt during that dance unit," Mitsuru admitted to him with a wistful smile. "You were among the better dancers in our class, and I couldn't quite understand how or why I couldn't measure up, despite having formal training before. It seemed to come so naturally for you, the way you were so light on your feet, and you actually seemed happy for a change."

"How could I not be happy?" he chortled. "For once, I was better than you at something!"

The two shared a few more chuckles. Ryuichi stood up first, dusting himself off before helping Mitsuru to her feet.

"Wanna try again?" he offered.

She beamed. "I don't see why not," she replied, and the two started up another waltz.

"So, why do you think you struggled so much with dancing back then?"

Mitsuru thought back again to the past. "I think, because it was something I never really enjoyed before," she answered slowly. "I had no interest in dancing back then, seeing it only as a chore for these lavish balls we have to attend. It was more for impressing others than for my own enjoyment."

"If I recall, you started dancing a lot better after we practiced more," Ryuichi pointed out. "What changed?"

He raised their hands up, twirling her. Mitsuru smiled more broadly now as they came back together again.

"You taught me that dancing could be fun," she said, remembering her elation when she learned that lesson back then. Her smile quickly faded. "Even though I tried ordering you to have proper posture all the time. And for a folk dance, no less."

Realization overcame her. "I see. So that's why Mother decided this so last minute."

They stopped again. Ryuichi stepped back, giving her some space.

"You finally realized it," he said with a warm smile.

She nodded. "Yeah. I guess I've been too focused on my work, haven't I?"

She felt foolish, having forgotten something she should have known from the start. She expected Ryuichi to tease her for it, but he just stood there, smiling at her.

"Your mother and I were talking about it a lot," he told her. "She sees how hard you push yourself every day, and how frustrated you are every time the Board denies your proposals. She's worried you'll get wrinkles before she does."

Mitsuru scowled at that.

"Her words, not mine." Ryuichi held his hands up in surrender. "But yeah, we talk all the time about how worried we are about you, just like what I used to do with your father. Except now, it's like our afternoon tea gossip."

Her face fell. "Do you really?"

"Well, not _all_ the time. Just when we're worried about you, or to discuss your finer points. We talk about other things, too."

She wasn't convinced. "You certainly have gotten close with her, haven't you?"

He simpered at her. "We are united in our fondness for you," he said with a bow, and Mitsuru began to wonder what else her mother and bodyguard talked about when she wasn't around.

"So, you two think I'm working too hard?" she asked him. "Personally, I feel like I'm not working hard enough. I haven't made any headway with the board members regarding our fight against Shadows."

"Somehow, I knew you'd say that." Ryuichi folded his arms over his chest and sighed. "Mission failed."

She eyed him with curiosity. "Why do you say that?"

"Why else? Even though you already know we think you're working too hard, you're still gonna forge ahead, aren't you?"

"When you put it that way..."

It was Mitsuru's turn to fold her arms in front of her. "Perhaps it won't be so terrible if I eased up on my work a little," she said, still thinking on it. "But I have to ask: Are we truly required to perform at the ball?"

He answered her with a head tilt and a pitiful smile.

"I see. Well, regardless of whether or not it was only a ploy to help me see the error of my ways, I've already decided to continue with our performance for my mother's sake and ours," Mitsuru said with determination. "We only have a little more than a week, but we'll just have to do our best."

"If it helps, you've already improved a lot."

Ryuichi shifted his weight to one foot, looking her up and down. "Oh, yeah. You look way more relaxed now."

"You think so?" Mitsuru became more aware of how limber she now felt. "I guess dancing is more enjoyable when I'm not thinking too hard about it."

"Exactly. Though, I thought you learned that back in middle school."

"I'd forgotten all about it," she admitted, disappointed in herself.

"It's not a bad thing. Sometimes we need refreshers like this."

"Refreshers and good partners," she added, heading over to the stereo to turn off the music. "Somehow, I think this ball will be a little more enjoyable now, thanks to you."

"Hey, don't forget to have a little fun every now and then, too," he reminded her. "I thought we covered that lesson last year."

"We did, but as we've established just now, I needed a refresher."

She turned back to him, smiling again. "I believe we've made excellent progress today," she announced. "Let's call it a night."

"Good." He let out a groan as he lifted his injured foot. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a foot to ice."

She frowned. "I thought you said it was fine?"

"I had to or else you wouldn't have danced with me."

"And for good reason. Let's get you back to your room."

She supported him under his arm, encouraging him to lean on her as much as he needed. He took a laborious hop on his good foot, and Mitsuru braced herself for his added weight.

When they made it to the doors, Mitsuru paused for a moment with her hand on the door handle.

"Thank you, Ryuichi," she said quietly. "If I forget about all this again, I'm relying on you to remind me."

"As many times as you need," came his solemn reply, giving her some much needed reassurance.

As they left the ballroom, Mitsuru noticed a pair of crutches leaning against the wall just outside the double doors. She turned her frosty glare up to Ryuichi, who uttered a nervous giggle.

"Um, heh, well I..."

Mitsuru let him go. "It seems that my assistance is no longer required," she said, starting down the hall without him. "Good night, Ryuichi."

"W-Wait, I still need a little help—"

"You have all the help you need there by the door."

"You'd seriously just abandon your favorite servant?"

"I would never abandon Kikuno."

Mitsuru's lip curled into a devilish smirk as she left an anguished Ryuichi behind. She almost snorted when she heard him make an offended squeak, and stopped to let him catch up to her on his crutches.

"All right, you've had your fun," she said to him, still smiling. "We only have a short time until the ball, so try not to hurt yourself anymore until then."

He pouted. "This was _your_ fault, remember?"

"Ah, that's right." She covered up her flustered face by turning away. "My apologies."

"It's cool," he said, smiling again. Jokingly, he added: "But to be safe, maybe I should consider wearing a suit of armor for our next practice."

The next day, the maids surprised them both by presenting Ryuichi with shin guards and a pair of sabatons to protect his feet.

"What, no cup?" he snorted, and Harumi shocked the two by holding one up.

"Please be careful, Ojou-sama," Kikuno said to Mitsuru with a bow. All Mitsuru could do was palm her face in embarrassment while Ryuichi reluctantly geared up for practice.


End file.
